NFLPA hires prosecutor to target outlaw agents

The NFL Players Association has hired a special prosecutor to crack down
on sleazy agents.

Upshaw

Gene Upshaw, executive director of the players union, said the prosecutor will
be charged with building cases against agents who steal clients and engage in unsavory
activities that violate union rules.

"My job is to protect my players and ... agents who have integrity and want the
business cleaned up," Upshaw said. "I need a prosecutor and his only job is to take
these cases and see them through."

The hiring of Matthew Couloute Jr. comes amid complaints from agents that last
year was the worst ever for unscrupulous recruiting tactics.

Upshaw said two NFLPA agent meetings were dominated by accusations of client
stealing. During one meeting of prominent NFL agents, he decided that something
had to be done.

Upshaw said he is worried that some good agents may consider leaving the business
because they don't think they can be honest and still compete effectively. He compared
the situation to that of NFL players wanting all players to be tested for steroids
to ensure fair competition.

Since 1996, the NFLPA has taken disciplinary action, which ranges from a letter
of reprimand to a fine to decertification, against more than 50 agents.

Those cases were prosecuted by the NFLPA's legal staff, which is also charged
with a lengthy list of other tasks, including representing players in arbitration,
defending players against disciplinary actions imposed by the league, negotiating
the NFL collective-bargaining agreement and answering player and agent questions
about the collective-bargaining agreement and the salary cap.

Couloute, the player liaison for NFL Security and a former state prosecutor,
will work in the NFLPA legal department under the direction of general counsel Richard
Berthelsen.

"NFLPA staff lawyers Tim English, Tom DePaso and Arthur McAfee have all done
a terrific job in prosecuting the agent cases we have had so far," Berthelsen said.
"But we need more help in this area because we are getting an increasing number
of complaints."

Couloute, a former assistant Connecticut state attorney out of Bridgeport, worked
on serious felonies, including murder cases, before joining NFL Security.

Couloute said he will be working on other NFLPA legal issues, but "my primary
goal there is to take care of these agent cases." Couloute said the agent cases
may involve everything from tampering with clients to interfering with other agents'
contracts and potential NCAA recruiting violations.

Couloute said he has already made contact with NCAA officials who investigate
allegations of agents illegally recruiting student athletes, and he plans to work
with them "hand in hand." Couloute said he has not yet set the date at which he
will join the NFLPA, but he wants to start before the college football season gets
under way.

"I think it is important that I get there before recruiting season [for the 2003
NFL draft] starts," he said. "I think some of the [unscrupulous recruiting] we heard
about last season has to be addressed, and the sooner that we get there and try
to take control, the better."

Couloute said he will need the help of good agents to do his job. "I think what
the agents have to realize is it is going to take some of them to step up and blow
the whistle on the others who are doing a disservice to their profession," he said.